Damascus, 27 Jumadil Akhir 1434/6 May 2013 (MINA) – A series of massive explosions over Damascus early Sunday (5/5), igniting renewed claims that Israel has launched attacks into the war-torn country.

Syrian authorities vowed to retaliate against Israel but did not specify what action they would take.

The explosions were the second Israeli airstrike in three days. The latest target was a military research facility outside the Syrian capital, Syria’s government officials said, Turkish Weekly reported as monitored by Mi’raj News Agency (MINA).

Meanwhile, A top Syrian official told CNN in an exclusive interview that the attack was a “declaration of war” by Israel.

The Israeli military would not confirm or deny the Syrian claim that Israel fired rockets that hit the Jamraya research center in the Damascus suburbs. “We do not comment on these reports at all,” an Israeli military representative said.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed “grave concern” over the reports of Israeli airstrikes in Syria Sunday but stressed that the U.N. is not “in a position to independently verify what has occurred,” his spokesman said.

The United States was not given any warning before air strikes in Syria against what Western and Israeli officials say were weapons headed for Hezbollah militants, a U.S. intelligence official said on Sunday.

Without confirming that Israel was behind the attacks, the U.S. intelligence official said that the United States was essentially told of the air raids “after the fact” and was notified as the bombs went off.

Ki-Moon warns against Syrian escalation

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned against escalating the situation in Syria after Israel struck targets near Damascus on Sunday, targeting what its officials said were Iranian missiles bound for Hezbollah militants.

According to Syrian reports Israel targetted an arms depot, a research center and two brigades of presidential guards and killed over 300 soldiers.(T/P03/P04)